#Monster hunter rise review Pc#

This mishmash of old ideas with some compelling new ones of its own makes Rise feel like a huge mechanical step forward compared to Generations Ultimate, but more of a sidestep in the context of World and its Iceborne expansion. Meanwhile, other things like separate Village and Hub questlines for single- and multiplayer and the ability to tweak a weapon’s playstyle a bit return from older Monster Hunter games. For example, much of the streamlining World did has been carried forward, including tweaks like load-free maps, weapon-sharpening whetstones not being consumable, and healing items being usable while walking – all of which feel vital after spending hundreds of hours with them in World. That means there’s a mix of old and new ideas here, some of which are more successful than others.

#Monster hunter rise review Pc#

(For context, World outsold the previously most popular game in the series by at least 11 million copies, so for a huge chunk of current Monster Hunter fans it’s all they’ve ever known.) That’s relevant here because Rise feels a little more like a follow-up to the most recent Switch entry, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, that benefits from many of World’s impressive evolutions rather than a successor to World itself – which makes some sense, given World never came to Switch and Rise is a Switch exclusive (until it comes to PC next year).

The systems that house all that depth have given Monster Hunter a reputation for being daunting to learn, but 2018’s Monster Hunter World shattered that barrier by streamlining many aspects and making the series accessible to a wider audience than ever before. Success relies on a healthy balance of preparation and skill, and it’s kept fresh by the variety of 14 radically different weapons types you can swap between, the strategic puzzle of breaking and severing specific parts of a monster rather than just whacking at it mindlessly, and the everlasting allure of that next piece of sweet gear. Each hunt is essentially an epic boss fight against a specific monster or two, all of which are incredibly diverse in both visual design and behavior a successful hunt earns you materials used to craft better equipment that will, in turn, allow you to take down harder monsters – and so on and so forth. Its scope and progression can feel flatter than that of Monster Hunter World at its launch (including a conspicuous lack of Elder Dragons), making it seem like a foundation waiting to be built upon – but after spending dozens of hours with Rise’s wonderfully enhanced mobility and faster pace, it’s going to be hard to ever go back to the way things were before.įor those new to the series, Monster Hunter Rise is all about killing or capturing giant, spectacular monsters and turning them into pairs of pants (among other pieces of gear), this time with an awesome feudal Japanese theme throughout. In a series already known for providing thrilling battles you can’t really get elsewhere, Monster Hunter Rise still manages to surprise and delight. I cannot wait to talk about them, so let’s break down this beast.There’s nothing quite like piloting a fire-breathing T-rex like a runaway train through an overflowing volcano before using it to beat the crap out of a dragon. Rise returns with the good old-fashioned fun while also bringing a whole lot of goodies to the new installment.

However, World proved to be the stepping stone needed to scale the mountain and quickly became one of my favorite games ever. In the past, I just viewed it as a weird multiplayer game that was too complex to get to the part where I fight giant monsters with giant swords. I love how much I’ve turned around on the Monster Hunter series ever since playing World. Some characters make reference to alcohol in dialogue while not explicitly referring to alcohol.

While all the creatures in Rise are fantasy-like, they all have reactive animations when hurt and when slayed. Spurts of blood can be seen when hunters or monsters are attacked. But no matter what, the real purpose remains: hunting monsters to wear their face. What was originally perceived as one of the hardest franchises to break into, Rise proves to be the best time to try out Monster Hunter yet. Monster Hunter Rise is the newest entry in the series to follow up the incredible success of Monster Hunter World/Iceborne.